CUSTOM HOME BEGINNINGS:
OK, you have decided to consider building a a home. Building can be overwhelming, but here are a few very essential things to think about from the very start.
*Start Here*
1. Location, location, location- where do YOU want to live.
2. Setting of building lot- trees, water edge, rocky hillside, flat land.
3. Do you want a garage?
4. How long you plan to reside in this home and what stage of life you and your family are in.
Walk out basement
Of course, selecting your location is the first step. A few things to think of if you plan to build in a subdivision: is the lot you considering going to have headlights shining across it? That would tend to place your bedrooms, especially the master bedroom, away from the side of the house facing the traffic.
Cul-de-sacs are a nice choice, but the lot is usually priced higher.
Consider choosing a lot in an older subdivision or on the edge of town for a slightly more reasonable cost per parcel.
If choosing a remote location, be sure to budget enough money for the driveway. Home owners like to go with the lowest bid that they receive, but remember that about 95% of the bids you receive are actually “bid estimates” meaning that the contractor will guarantee the price for exactly the labor and materials included in the bid. But if the driveway crosses a very wet place, you can end up with 10 extra dump truck loads of road base just to get across the boggy ground. On one of our personal homes we were quoted $7,500 to lay in a 1/2 mile drive back through the woods. In the end we ended up paying $13,000. No joke! And this did not include top dressing the drive with nice gravel.
Mountains and remote locations
Now about #2- setting of your custom home. If the lot has many trees and you would like to have them around your home, remember to figure in how much room the actual footprint of the home and the work that has to be done around the home. A few trees can usually be marked and avoided, but not very many. One might imagine a home nestled in amongst the trees, but those trees have to grow there after the house is complete. Additionally, vegetation right up against a home can damage a home when the plants and trees touch it. Also it provides a safe haven for insects and birds that can harm your custom home.
River Areas
If building close to the water, a crawl space for a basement may be your only solution due to the water table. Also consider researching flood plain before deciding exactly where to locate your home. I have been told that flooding from being in a flood plain is typically not covered in a homeowners insurance plan. But there is a type of flood plain insurance that is government backed (here in the USA).
If building on a rocky hillside, consider extra digging costs. In the Rocky Mountains of the western USA, some builders have to resort to dynamite blasting to get the footers and basements in. That of course increases costs.
#3 Garages- A very cost effective way to add a garage is to place it in the basement. If the lot has a slight drop of just 12″ across it, a walk-out basement, or daylight basement, might be just for you. You can double the size of your home, plus not have the added cost of an attached garage, by installing a walk-out basement with garage doors.
An attached garage always can be added later, but you would not have to leave your vehicle (probably your second biggest investment behind your new home) out in the weather. Also seriously consider having your basement wall 9′ high instead of the standard 8′. By doing this you have a higher ceiling for any of your living space down there. Plus you can have an 8′ tall garage door installed to accommodate most pickup trucks, SUV’s and vans.
And, finally, consideration #4- How long you plan to live in this home. If you are going to raise a young family in this home, or if you are retiring, a ranch style home is a wise choice. This eliminates the stairs for small children and older seniors.
A cost effective and enhancing addition to a home is a loft. If you already have a high pitched roof, it is not much more materials and labor to add the
Open Loft
flooring and railing for a second floor open loft. This can add anywhere from 200 sq. ft. to over 500+ sq. ft. to your home at a relatively low cost per square foot. Plus you have somewhere to put company.
A two-story home is a good option for those who want to keep the living space and the private space of a house separate. It also can be less expensive to go “up” than “out” with a home and see lower cement costs due to a smaller basement, but still gain extra rooms.
Outdoor spaces can be further enhanced with patio covers. Everyone today seems to be drawn outdoors more and more.
So no matter where you are building your custom home, these 4 points are a good place to start. But above all remember that your custom home needs to meet your needs and reflect your dreams.
Every once in a while people just want to stay outdoors, to enjoy the beautiful weather and just have some peace of mind away from the television. Night time is also nice to spend outdoors and just look at the stars. Home owners are now beginning to like the idea of putting decorative lights in their yard and garden. Garden Torches which cost around $20 make a very pretty addition to any yard. Garden Wall Lighting is also very practical. These lights that are mounted on walls could cost around $50.
Having lights outdoors has many benefits and advantages. It enhances the beauty of the garden thereby making it more inviting and comfortable. You may want to focus some light on a special part of your garden. Your favorite corner would be so much cozy if it had lighting effects. You may even get the ones that can be placed in areas that have water. Lighting under water like those in the ponds is truly magical and splendid. You may even use your creativity in designing light for the fountain area.
Garden Torches may be used in a variety of ways. It can be used as a decoration or to highlight a certain portion of the garden or simply just to shed light in some places outdoors when night comes. Aside from being decorative it also gives some element of protection. Burglars are normally shunned by well lighted places. It would be practical if your yard has some lights all through the night especially on the dark spots surrounding your house.
The solar powered lighting devices are the most practical of all the gadgets. It has solar batteries that charge in the morning; charging is automatically stopped when there is no sun. Likewise, it automatically turns on its light when it starts to get dark. This makes it very adaptable and easy to maintain. You don’t even need to call an electrician to install it. It’s easy to install with just an instruction manual.
All kinds of outdoor lighting are available online. If you want to start on your landscaping you should check out the many designs and styles that are offered at great prices. Shipping is free and will usually take just 1 day.
If you’re looking for a heavy duty floor cleaner then this will be one of the best you can find. But it’s not cheap, and a bit loud loud also. After filling the 1Gallon tank you’ll certainly feel some heaviness. And it’s not that slim either. So if you are looking for to replace your previous unit with something that would easily fit under some areas like under your beds for instance, then still this won’t be the right choice for you. But let’s say that you’ve got some big grounds to cover and want to do it fast and also need to achieve an excellent quality output then this machine is one of the best that you can hope for.
As with all the steam powered devices you just can’t plug it in use it right away. And since the water bucket is also big, it takes few minutes to boil the water and to produce the actual steam. It has three tanks. One for water, 2nd one for drain and the third one is being used by the soap solution that comes with it. It also comes with an impressive three years of warranty period too. Anyway the cleaning as said earlier just rocks. There are also few buttons which are mounted on the main handle, on/off button and also two other separate buttons for switching on/off the rotating pads and the other one is for blocking the soap.
While using the floor cleaner on tile surfaces and concrete floors, other than the weight issue, it was pretty easy handle. Removes the stains and dirt and leaves the surfaces with excellent looking conditions. You can use it to clean carpets also but make sure to adjust the brush rotations according to the situation and there could be some other pads made by third party manufactures which are especially made out to be used on certain types of materials only.
You don’t have to push it harder either because the built in wheels comes in to rescue. It’s really a powerful device and as a result can be a bit noisy. So it would be wise not to use it closely to small children as a safety issue. It’s also very easily removable (pads and tanks) when it comes to washing the machine itself. They also give you two bottles of the soap that it uses. And one bottle can be used many times and I guess that for most of us they’d last for a long time. Anyway to wrap thing up, this floor cleaner is aimed at robust usage and if you want a “lighter” solution then please consider another cleaning device.
Solar lights can be found in every garden store and home store across the country. They have become very popular and for many good reasons. The main reasons though are the advantages that they have over mains or battery powered garden lights and this article looks at three of these reasons.
Cheaper Running Cost
The obvious advantage of solar lights over mains powered or battery powered lights is the running cost. As the name suggests solar powered garden lights are run from the energy that’s is gathered from the sun during the day. This means that you never need to pay your electricity provider to power your garden lights and you will never need to but expensive batteries.
Winter Garden Lighting
Solar powered lights are a much better idea than battery powered as they will even light up during the coldest winter night. You may not be aware of this but it is only lithium batteries that will operate in sub zero temperatures. Lithium batteries at the moment are comparatively very expensive when compared to regular alkaline batteries. So if you want some lights to bring a bit of brightness to your garden during the winter then solar power would be the best the option.
Easy Installation
Installing solar lights is also a very easy task to do when compared to installing mains powered light and makes it very easy to make a creative outdoor lighting design. Any high voltage cables that are used outside need to be armoured so that a badly placed spaced doesn’t cut through it. This isn’t the only stipulation that is placed upon using electricity outside, in most case the cable needs to buried two feet deep – and that’s a lot of disturbance for any garden. If you chose to use solar lights however you would forgo all of this disturbance and expense. In many case you can just position the light where you want and turn it on – it’s a simple as that.
There are more complicated solar systems on the market which will have a remote solar panel so that you can position lights where the sun doesn’t reach. This type of system does have a cable that will stretch between the light and solar panel but there is no need for it to be armoured or buried because it is such low voltage and pose no risk to any one.
These are the three main advantages that solar lights have over their mains powered competitor.
When you think of Art Deco, the style that became popular in Paris in the early 20th century, you probably think of things like that well-known Parisian font with the thin, tall and dramatically cut letters. Everything about the style, including furniture, architecture and small touches like Art Deco lamps, was aimed to look luxurious, lavish and futuristic.
Even the art of the period took on all of the hallmarks of the style with long lines, angular shapes and thinness in things before curving smoothly into another long line. Because the industrial age was changing the shape of the world and new discoveries and inventions were the news of the day, the period was influenced by those things.
Egyptian history and culture was on everyone’s mind when the tomb of King Tutankhamen was opened. Cars and airplane flights were becoming popular and making travel easier and faster. Everything was picking up a faster pace, and people of the day were looking toward the future and the fantastic things that hadn’t yet been discovered or created.
But within the industrial influences of the Art Deco period, there were also less modern shapes. Nudes were a popular Art Deco lamp feature, but they were usually plated in some type of metal to give them that modern touch. One popular design was a nude holding a ball of light. The nude was often in copper and sitting or reclining on a marble base. Harlequins, Egyptian queens and things like deer and snakes were also common motifs on lamps and other items.
The Art Deco period was also known for the colors. Unlike the rich reds and browns of the Renaissance, this Parisian-born period was known for cool pastels like coral, aqua, sea foam green, mustard yellow and cooled down colors that didn’t always go together but fit because they had the same cool, washed out look.
One of the primary growth markets in the home improvement industry is backyard design. Nowadays in this stressed economic climate everyone is resorting more to their outdoor spaces to take advantage of as extra space for friends and guests, eating or just relaxing. There are now as many styles of outside furnishings as there are for indoors. Once a decision is made to update your outdoor area you will not have any problem in obtaining all the pieces of furniture, lights, accents along with anything else you may need to make your outdoor space as comfortable as your indoor space.
If you are decorating a patio or deck simply for eating outdoors, then you may not need easy chairs or loungers, but you will definitely have to have a nice outdoor table as well as chairs or benches. Outdoor dining sets are available in a variety of styles with the most simple being low-cost plastic tables and chairs. Plastic will stand up to being outside efficiently for a couple of years, though following this period it may become brittle and hazardous hence this sort of outdoor furniture will have to be replaced frequently. To get something far more resilient and also a lot more appealing, you should go for wicker dining furniture.
If you are dining often outside or if you intend on doing lots of entertaining outdoors, you should consider having an entire outdoor kitchen set up. These will be as basic or as complex as you prefer. In reality there is almost no difference between exactly what could be achieved with an outdoor kitchen and an indoors one. You may just want to use electric or gas grills and also have enough cupboard space for cooking tools, or you may want a completely equipped outdoor kitchen having built in fridge, kitchen sink, outdoor tv and cabinets.
Another idea for your outdoor space is a fire place, fire pit or chiminea. A very contemporary form of fire pit is the table firepit. These can be found in a number of different variations both square and round. The actual fire pit is in the middle of the table and is typically full of lava rock and fuelled by propane. Some luxury out of doors furniture sets include a fire pit table to match chairs in the same collection. Expect to pay about $1,000 for one of these. Having said that on the other end of the budget range you will get a rustic metal bowl style, wood fuelled fire pit for approximately $150-$200. Take a look on eBay to find a good deal. Or at garage sales in your neighborhood.
However you intend using your outdoor space, it’s possible to have the space looking fantastic without having to spend a lot of money. Prior to making any significant buys ensure you look at some online sites to provide you with ideas of the way you would like your patio to look, and the price you will probably pay out.
If your bathroom is cramped or crowed, with little or no storage space you can make it more elegant ad functional with the addition of a corner cabinet. A bathroom corner cabinet is especially helpful in cases where there isn’t a whole lot of floor space and a regular shelf unit would inhibit getting around. There are plenty of styles, designs and varieties of bathroom corner cabinets to choose from, so finding one to fit the decor of your bathroom shouldn’t be an issue at all.
If you can’t afford to take up any floor space with your cabinet, a wall mounted vanity unit may be your best option. Mounting a bathroom corner cabinet up on the wall will give you the extra storage that you need for your bathroom necessities without making it more difficult to get around that already small space. You can choose either a shorter model that will mount higher on the wall, or in cases where you need quite a bit of storage, a full height cabinet may be the perfect solution. A cabinet with open shelves will allow for easy access to all of your toiletries or you can opt for an enclosed shelf cabinet that will help to make a bathroom appear neater and more organized.
Bathroom corner cabinets come in a wide variety materials to perfectly match both your decor and budget. Wood and metal cabinets tend to be a little more expensive, but are more stylish and elegant options for trying to match a certain style. If style isn’t too much of a concern and you just need affordable and functional storage you can opt for a plastic corner unit.
In a large family where all members make use of the same bathroom, it can be difficult to keep it organized with limited storage space. If you get a full sized bathroom corner cabinet, there will be plenty of storage space for each member of your family to store their bathroom supplies.
Choosing the right bathroom cabinet mainly comes down to maters of appearance and budget. Just take care to select the best possible cabinet for your situation. Look for a cabinet that has enough storage for your entire family and one that will be sturdy enough to hold up to what you plan on using it for. Make sure that if you purchase an expensive wood or metal cabinet for a long time that it is properly assembled and properly finished to prevent damage. If there are space or storage issues in your bathroom, a corner cabinet may be the best investment that you could make.
If you are fortunate enough to have an actual laundry room, then you know that having that extra room can help doing laundry a lot easier. On the other hand, this also means you will need to do something about the clutter and mess that can build up. In order to handle this issue, you will need different types of laundry room storage units that will help you storage, categorize, and organize all of the different things that you have in your laundry room. Let’s look at some of the different units that you can use.
One type of storage unit is the cabinets. These can be custom build just to fit the type of space that you have in your room or you can buy them in a standard size. The benefit of having these cabinets is that you will be able to store your items in them and at the same time, keep them out of sight. The main thing that makes people stressed when seeing a messy room is the actually amount of stuff that’s lying all over the place. If you reduce the number of things that you actually see by putting them behind cabinet doors, it will make your room look cleaner.
You can also get stack boxes that will allow you to stack each box on top of the next one. This will help save you some room as well as store things away in an organized fashion. You can also install shelves, buy storage racks, and a lot of other things to help organize your laundry room. When buying shelves, make sure you plan out where you are going to be installing them first and get the correct measurements as well. Whatever you choose to buy, the important thing is that you get into the habit of storing things where they belong if you want to keep your laundry room looking neat and clean.
Throughout the years, bunk beds have become a staple in many rooms throughout the world due to the plethora of positive qualities and helpful functionality benefits that they give off. There are many additional reasons why families choose bunk beds over others, making them one of the most popular types of beds in homes where growing families are present.
One of the main reasons why bunk beds for kids are so popular is due to the fact that they are an incredible space saver for the children’s room, allowing for parents to live in a smaller house, but not cramping their children together. With a home that features a room with a bunk bed inside of it, there is extra space left over for additional objects to be placed in the area. This means that your children can have extra toys and other items in their room due to it not being cramped by an additional bed.
Additionally, another factor that boosts the popularity of this type of bed is the fact that children absolutely love the idea of being elevated while they sleep. Climbing up and down the bed, as well as playing around on the bed, is a fun activity for them, making the sleeping experience a much more enjoyable one then it would be if they had standard beds.
Many models of bunks can come with latter’s that extend to the top bed, allowing your children to climb up and down at their convenience. If you are concerned with your children falling off the top bunk in the middle of the night, there is no need to worry because models of bunk beds come with support rails at the top, preventing your child from rolling over in falling off in their sleep.
When one considers the positive benefits of choosing a bunk bed, it is not difficult to surmise that it would be a positive purchase for you injure growing family. If you’re a family who would love to save space, as well as money, a set of cheap bunk beds can definitely get the job done for you.
A black writing desk is a pretty neutral kind of piece. You may already have one in your home but it doesn’t really get noticed. This can go in all different kinds of design directions and the accessories can even be functional. It’s also a simple way to bring black accents into a room.
Something that you might want to consider are masculine accessories. This is great for his own home office or just if you want more of a gender-neutral kind of space. Consider buying paper trays with a faux crocodile finish. Leather brings in a little bit of warmth and richness but at the same time it does give another texture to the room. You can also accent with different globes for more of a library kind of feeling.
Another design direction that you can take this in is more of an elegant feeling. An easy way to do this is with crystal. In fact, you can even find crystal lamps as well as paperweights. This has a lot of sparkle and helps break up the black desk.
You can also have a lot of fun with different kinds of animal tones. Even if you just go with a zebra print notepad then this is really going to get noticed. You could also really juxtapose this style with more of an elegant feeling just by making your own memo board with an ornate black frame as well as a zebra fabric in the center. This could also work well for a teenager’s room.
If you do have a nook in your home you can easily turn this into an office. However, you’re going to have to find ways to make it unique and functional but at the same time it still does need to have a little bit of that importance to it. You should really try to find ways to make it flow with the rest of your house, but still get an unusual look. An easy way to do this is just by using the same color furniture in both rooms and you can change up the accent colors or the accessories quite easily.
When remodeling your bathroom, the first and most important thing to consider is the size of the space. Do you have space available for a bath along with a standalone shower cubicle? Just a bath tub having a shower head over it? Or perhaps if you do not have the room for both would you choose just a separate shower? The massive selection on the market could be confusing but also really exhilarating as nothing is quite as good as the latest bathroom ideas and water saving fixtures.
The whole process of the design and style of your new bathroom may revolve around if you are opting for a bathtub, a standalone shower or both. A classic style bathroom with a cast iron bathtub on legs looks spectacular coupled with antique style decor and accessories, but won’t combine so well with the ultra-modern steam shower. On the other hand if you prefer a high tech, glass and chrome, curved shower enclosure, you might put together with an equally modern vessel sink, and minimalist bathroom fittings and accents . Talk about a modern look!
In addition to picking out your brand-new bathroom fixtures you will additionally want to consider the exact bathroom decorations that appeal to you and your family. A couple of totally different trends appear in all the interior design magazines right this moment. The first is for big stone or marbled effect tiles used to completely cover all walls and the floor in a modern bathroom. This gives a very tidy looking room and is very low upkeep. On the other hand, when you opt for white or even gray stone appearance these can make the room feel chilly and uninviting. You may favor a warmer sandstone look tile (think travertine) with tones of gold, cream and orange. The second very fashionable tiling influence is the total opposite with all surfaces tiled with tiny mosaic ceramic tiles in toning shades or to create a pattern around the tub or shower enclosure.
Diverse variations of bathroom lighting effects could completely transform the way your bathroom looks and feels. You might want to include efficient recessed lights in the ceiling above a mirror to give a good view for shaving or putting on cosmetics. Or you would like to set up a more soothing and intimate lighting effect in the bathroom, for long soaks in fragrant baths, with muted lighting effects consider sconces or even a bathroom chandelier. Of course you might just simply use candles arranged about the bathtub if you want a long soak together with tropical bath oils. If it were me, I would choose the chandelier on a dimmer switch.
There are not too many people who know exactly what temporary blinds are. That’s why, in this article, I will provide some useful information about this type of blinds.
So, let’s start talking about temporary blinds. I’m sure that you already know that temporary blinds were invented especially to come into people’s help. There are many people who have to move into new apartments or into new houses and who didn’t have enough time to search after some permanent covers for their windows. All these people opt for temporary blinds. This type of blinds is very famous in the UK but also in the US.
Now, let me tell you about the advantages of temporary blinds. I’m sure that you already know that temporary blinds are entirely made of paper. This property makes them lightweight and so, anyone can install them. There is also another advantage of the fact that these temporary blinds are made of paper. This benefit is represented by the fact that they are environmental friends and because of that, people can recycle them when they purchase permanent covers for their windows.
When it comes about the installation of temporary blinds on different windows, people have to know that things are very simple. People who want to install inside their house this type of blinds, will only have to attach them on the frames of their windows. How they can do that? Well, on the back of each temporary blind there is an adhesive tape that people have to stick on the frames of their windows. In fact, this means that you will not have to use screwdrivers or screws to fix the blinds on your windows. I’m sure that you didn’t think that the installation of temporary blinds can be so simple.
If you are interested in buying this type of blinds for your house or for your apartment, you have to know that you can do that by only using a connection to the Internet. On the internet you will find different companies that sell this type of blinds and that allow people to order their products 24 hours per day. One of the most important benefits of purchasing temporary blinds from the internet is represented by the fact that they are cheaper than they are in home supply stores or in other types of stores. Another important benefit is that it will not be necessary for you to spend precious time by searching for temporary blinds in different stores.
So, if you are interested to buy temporary blinds for your apartment, you have to know that there are some companies that sell high-quality accessories for windows. I will give you a clearer example. If you want to make sure that you make a good investment, you can choose to purchase Redi Shades
blackout blinds. This company produces high-quality temporary blinds that are purchased by many people from the entire world. Even if they are more expensive than regular temporary blinds, they are more resistant and they will last longer.
Of course, you are the one who decides what type of temporary blinds you want to purchase. Just make sure that you choose the best.
